I know that Yuletide is approaching fast when the Mill at Sonning’s Christmas show opens. Everything is done to make you feel festive – crackers, bunting, the aroma of home-made mince pies wafting through the venue. Thoughts of the gloomy weather outside were quickly dispelled by their cracklingly funny show Time and Time Again, one of Alan Ayckbourn’s funniest scripts, set in his customary world of middle-class angst.

The play tells of the familial misadventures of brother and sister Leonard and Anna, who are cursed with the overbearing presence of Anna’s husband, the know-all Graham. John Arthur is absolutely great as this bullying, opinionated, lecherous bore. So totally unredeeming is his character that he is as hilarious as he is rebarbative. The long-suffering siblings (charmingly portrayed by Lesley Meade and Ian Targett) are a soft but rather dreamy pair. Leonard has been dumped by his wife and is living with his sister at their (recently deceased) mother’s house. Life chugs along mundanely under Graham’s mithering regime, in the form of low-key verbal warfare between the two men – until a catalyst enters their lives in the form of Peter, a bright young employee of Graham’s and his delectable fiancée Joan, who are played with a sparky charm by Nicholas Atkinson and Amy Hall. Joan and Leonard begin an affair, much to the chagrin of the jealous Graham – who begins to spy on the couple with very funny results. Leonard meanwhile joins Peter’s cricket team, providing many comic highlights also. Directed with a sure but light touch by Robin Herford, the action takes place in the conservatory/garden of the family home. The convincing design, by Michael Holt, also includes lots of bits and pieces for sight gags to unfold in. It is a clever and very funny show. One of the very few dinner theatres in this country, the Mill pulls out all the stops to lay on a great traditional Christmas dinner, with turkey and all the trimmings and a fab Christmas pudding (alternatives are also on the menu). Crackers were pulled and jokes read, and a genuine conviviality permeated the audience. After the dinner and show you can drift downstairs to the bar to watch the waterwheel chugging round and listen to some good live music (often joined by the cast of the show you have just seen). An evening at the Mill at Sonning is actually rather like going to a good country house party.

The play is being performed at the Mill at Sonning, until January 9. Tel: 0118 9698000 (wwwmillatsonning.com).